


Split Number One

by Flamebearrel



Series: ~World of Light: EVERYONE IS SAD~ (Feat. Villager) [1]
Category: Super Smash Brothers
Genre: An intelligent one but a child nonetheless, Gen, He has a simple vocabulary, Hurt/Comfort, Master Hand Clones, POV Third Person Limited, Sheik and Marth are kinda just there in the background, Trophy rules align somewhat with Subspace, Villager is a child, World of Light (Super Smash Brothers), kirby can talk, no ships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-06
Updated: 2019-03-06
Packaged: 2019-11-12 17:51:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,607
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18015533
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flamebearrel/pseuds/Flamebearrel
Summary: It was simple, really. Three formidable fighters, or at least two and a kid trying his best, but only one could be saved. As experienced, top-notch heroes, Mario and Kirby should have seen it all before. They could have easily made the right choice.Yet they didn't.And it doesn't seem the winner understands.





	Split Number One

_Victory!_

The R.O.B. clone fell to the floor before melting into a puddle of gold. As the substance slowly evaporated, they watched the Spirit inside rise from it. Mario gave a little smile. The Spirit floated for a moment, seeming to give a nod of appreciation, before flying away from the path and into safety.

“...I’m pretty sure that Guardian Spirit isn’t something we should just let go around,” Mario thought aloud, picking up the tiny puffball by his feet. Kirby blinked in response.

“Is that okay?”

“Eh, probably not, but don’t worry. There’s bigger things to think about.” The plumber put a hand on his friend’s head. “Let’s-a keep going, little guy.”

There were trophies on three sides of the courtyard, standing silently. The once-shimmering blue hair of the Hero King on the left had dulled. They looked up ahead, where Sheik towered menacingly, eyes void of any emotion. To the right stood the shortest of the three, Villager, with the smile he usually wore to battle wiped off his face.

Glancing between them, Mario felt something stir inside of him. Dismay, perhaps? All these fighters, individually trapped in eternal stasis, while he was up and running. With that train of thought, choosing who to save first felt like playing favorites.

So he’d leave that to his partner. The man with the red cap lowered Kirby to the floor again, asking, “Who do you want to help first?”

The puffball paused for a moment before running up to Villager. “Him!”

“Sounds good to me,” Mario said with a nod. Reaching down, counting in his head, the plumber tapped the base of the trophy and waited for the fight to begin.

 

It wasn’t that difficult with the both of them there. As Mario landed the final Super Jump Punch and sent Villager through the blast zone, the ropes of light circling his body tore to pieces. The mayor fell to the ground, battered, unconscious.

Slowly, he opened his eyes.

“Kirby,” Villager muttered, “Mario… what are you… ow, everything hurts…”

Immediately Kirby ran to him, ducking under the weakened fighter’s arm. “It’s okay.” He pushed, trying to help Villager up. “You’re okay now.”

“Huh…?”

As he got to his feet, the third member took in his surroundings. “Where are we…? How did we get here? I can only remember the light.”

Mario nodded. “That’s what we’ve-a been calling this place, the ‘World of Light’! Though I wish it was as pleasant as it sounded. We should… probably find a better name-”

“I’d say.” Holding Kirby’s stubby hand in his own, Villager stepped towards the center of the courtyard. “With all this ‘light, light, light’, I’m surprised we all aren’t blind by n-…”

There was nothing to do but trail off as the mayor rested his eyes on the other two trophies. He didn’t respond. For a moment, all that was there was the weight of the situation finding a seat in an audience of shoulders.

Then the plumber cleared his throat.

“Oh, uh…” Snapping back to the present, Villager turned to them again. “Sorry, I… we should probably help them out now, huh?”

“Just what I was thinking.”

With that, Kirby sauntered to Sheik. “Here, then! If we keep going, we can save everyone!” He reached out to tap the base of the ninja’s trophy. “So let’s-”

_Flash._

The three of them jolted, grouping together at the center of the courtyard in sight of the giant hand that was suddenly there. It was a Master Hand clone, again, looming above.

“Stay behind me,” Mario growled. A fireball flickered into the palm of his hand and he took a step toward the clone-

But the right hand didn’t want to fight. He simply snapped his fingers, and bam, something was there. They could do nothing but watch in dismay as glowing energy shields formed around Sheik and Marth. And then the clone was gone, and Mario extinguished his fireball and everything was cold.

What could anyone say?

Mario ventured, “Well. This might be a bit harder than we thought.”

Then, all of a sudden, Villager was sprinting toward the shield, shrieking, “No! No, you can’t do that! You can’t!” Without his boxing gloves, he punched at the barrier, drawing back when it burned his hand. Then he put them on and tried again. It didn’t work either. “That’s not fair,” he screeched. He planted a tree, grew it to full height, then sent it toppling. The barrier left it in splinters. A bowling ball, a Lloid Rocket, _everything_ was dropped on it, and nothing, nothing, _nothing_ worked.

The other two watched a while, speechless.

When he couldn’t take it anymore, Kirby rushed to the mayor’s side, pulling him back by his shirt. “Villager, stop, please! It’s not gonna do anything…”

“But I…” For a moment he resisted, but, slowly, he let the fireworks in his hands drop to the floor. He shook his head. The sparks fizzled away in the dust.

“…Are you okay?”

Quiet again. Stepping forward, ready to offer support, Mario opened his mouth- Yet no sound was allowed to escape him, because just then, Villager turned.

“Why did you do it?”

The man in overalls spluttered, “Wh-what?”

“Take a look around!” Villager gestured wildly at the shields, then at the rest of the world. “Everyone is _dead_ , Mario! Just dead, _completely_ dead, unless some hero can go out and save everyone. Do you know how impossible that is?”

“I know it _sounds_ impossible, but I’m-a sure we can-”

“No, you don’t get it! Even if we did manage to save someone, Galeem would just mess it up again. Regular people can’t fix this!”

Reaching a gloved hand towards the younger fighter, Mario protested, “But we’re not regular people-! We wouldn’t be here if we were…”

“ _You’re_ not regular people,” hissed Villager, “but riddle me this! You have three choices: A warrior prince, a ninja, or some kid who panics as soon as the lights turn on. And you choose the kid? WHY?! What can I do that they can’t?” He scoffed. “I’m not a hero. I can’t save the world. I can barely even do my own job! So what do you want? Tell me! Do you want the extra burden, or just someone to pick on? Am I- am I comic relief?! Just- _Just-! WHY DID YOU CHOOSE ME?!_ ”

At that, his voice cracked.

Out of arguments, eyes glistening, the mayor simply repeated, “Why did you choose me…?” Then he slid down to the ground, in silence.

“…”

Mario stepped up to the younger fighter and took a seat next to him. He hesitated no longer that a moment. “Please, don’t-a go thinking that way. I stand by what I said, ya know? None of us are here without a reason. Like…” The man in overalls tapped his chin. “You’ve got confidence when you fight. It’s there in your smile, I see it. And- and you’re reasonable, something this team probably needs.”

“That’s a lie. Sheik and Marth wouldn’t yell at you as soon as they woke up.”

“This is your first apocalyptic disaster, paisano. If you haven’t seen ‘em in action, I wouldn’t be so sure!”

Villager pulled his knees close, staring at a crack in the stone floor. “Then I’ll never be sure, I guess.”

The plumber sighed. “Listen to me. We’re gonna save them; I can promise that. It might take a while, but we’re not stopping until everyone is here and everyone is safe. So what if you’re new to this? That-a doesn’t make you any less of a family member. You’re as much a part of this team as us, Villager. And we need your help just like you need ours.”

“We can all help each other,” Kirby chimed. A second passed without dispute before he pattered up and gave the mayor a hug.

Mario wrapped an arm around him too. Defeated, the kid leaned against the plumber’s chest, and the three simply sat. For a few seconds they were a single bundle of consciousness in a sleeping world.

“Okay,” Villager finally said. He straightened up. “Maybe, just maybe… You have a chance of being right. We should get back on the road.”

As the puffball next to them clapped his hands in satisfaction, Mario grinned. “There we go! It’s a good thing you finally came around- we can’t have the guy who holds the supplies be too upset to let us use ‘em!”

“Ha-ha, _very_ funny.” He totally wasn’t smiling anyway.

The trio staggered to their feet and took their first steps down the rock path, Kirby leading the way. As he went to follow, Mario chanced one last look at the trophies behind him. The energy shields stared back, unyielding, undaunted, unbreakable.

Something about it shot dread through his veins. Galeem was toying with them. What else did he want? What else would he _do?_

Clearing these thoughts with a shake of his head, the red-capped man took off after the others. There wasn’t time to think about it. They just had to keep going. Going, going… Otherwise they’d never be able to save everyone.

It didn’t matter if there were more forked paths. It didn’t matter what Galeem was going to do. They’d fix it all, somehow. It couldn’t be impossible, because at the very least…

A Spirit whisked past then and there, nearly toppling them. Kirby looked at the other two, and when they nodded, he reached up to catch it like he would any other falling star. Another fight. Mario counted down…

_Three, two, one._

_Go._

At least they had conquered split number one.

**Author's Note:**

> We need more Villager in this household!!!!!
> 
> My interpretation of Villy is a little different from what I usually see people do- I see him as a sassy little guy who tries to be cool and on top of things, but he's got pretty explosive emotions that can get in the way of that :,) Pretty low self-esteem, but he enjoys being in the moment with fighting since that's where he can prove himself the most! :0
> 
> I had to look at the starter area of the map so much to get the details right for this oof


End file.
